Switched telephone network elements are typically networked together with a special purpose data communications network designated Signaling System 7 (SS7). The SS7 network communicates signaling information necessary to set up and manage telephony calls in a separate telecommunications network. SS7 uses what is called out-of band signaling, meaning that signaling (control) information travels on a separate channel, rather than within the same channel as the telephone call. SS7 is a global standard for telecommunications defined by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T). The standard specifies procedures and protocol by which network elements in the public switched telephone network (PSTN) exchange information over a digital signaling network to effect wireless (cellular) and wire line call setup, routing, and control. The ITU definition of SS7 allows for national variants such as the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and Bell Communications Research (Telcordia Technologies) standards used in North America and the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) standard used in Europe. The Home Location Register (HLR) is a database element of a SS7 network that contains details of each mobile phone subscriber that is authorized to use the associated network.
Conventional SS7 functionality in general, and more specifically the HLR SS7 element, constrains mobile management signaling to within the SS7 network. The distribution of such messages beyond the HLR is generally unavailable to applications outside the SS7 network to maintain and manage a database of mobile network status and availability. For example, when a device registers to the mobile network, an ‘Update Location’ message is typically sent to the HLR to inform of the current mobile location and serving network. This information is stored by the HLR for use subsequently when needed to contact the device. With conventional technology, registration event information is not generally accessible in real time to entities outside the SS7 network. This happens because, with conventional technology, the HLR signaling lacks availability for non-SS7 applications. For instance, an application that needs to communicate with the device can use the registration event to trigger a Mobile Terminate (MT) message.
In view of the foregoing, a need exists for a capability to provide access to at least a subset of mobile management signaling messages for applications outside of the SS7 network. A technology filling this need, or some related deficiency in the art, would improve communications. For example, such a capability could support or enable a host of services that depend upon knowledge of the real-time status of subscribed mobile devices.